Completed Category: Short Film - Live Action

Shorts week continues for me with the completion of the Live Action Shorts. 

I like them all, which is always nice, to not have either a dull slate or that one terrible one that needs to go away. Not this year! All are good - but there is a clear winner. I will avoid spoilers here.

THE AFTER: This one has star power, but it's also kind of strange; it fails to totally pack its punch even though it's super intense for a moment. It kind of fizzles out in a head-scratching ending. It's also short and not bad or anything, just left me feeling like they didn't really know what they wanted for the conclusion. 

INVINCIBLE:  Also well done, extremely well-crafted in fact, with beginning, middle, and end. I'd give it an A if this were film class, or at least an A-minus. This year, though, a poignant story of a troubled teenage boy with a strong young actor performance isn't quite enough to rise to the top of the heap. 

KNIGHT OF FORTUNE:  This is great. Two men have an encounter and more at a morgue, but there's a lot going on beneath the surface and the story unspools with little twists and turns,while still being a quiet, contained, emotional little journey.  In any other year I might say this is first place, but... 

RED, WHITE AND BLUE: Oh, yes. This one. I'll not say anything much about it other than it's about a woman in a state in the South trying to travel to a different state for an abortion. Go do yourself a favor and watch this one, which can be rented on Vimeo, even if you don't get to your local cinema to see the entire Live Action Shorts collection.  (Which you should totally do by the way.)

THE WONDERFUL STORY OF HENRY SUGAR:  Wow! Wes Anderson in small doses is the best Wes Anderson. And he matches perfectly with a Roald Dahl story. This is what he always should have been doing - keeping it short. 

Really, we don't need a big deconstruction of anything here. I simply enthusiastically recommend that you support whichever theatre near you is showing the Oscar-nominated Shorts. Most years I think that either the Animated are good and the Live Action are meh not so much, or the Live Action are great and the Animated are no thanks, and based on how good these five Live Action are, I don't have high hope for when I go see the Animateds. It must be a Live Action year! 

Order in which I want them to win: 
Red, White and Blue obviously
then basically could be a tie but I'll try to rank...
Knight of Fortune
Invincible 
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar
The After 

Order in which I think they will win: 
Red, White and Blue, if anyone has any sense in their Academy-votin' heads
maybe The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar? 'cause people love Wes Anderson
maybe The After? because people love David Oyelowo
maybe Knight of Fortune? It's great. 
sorry Invincible

But like, none of the #2 through #5 rankings matter. Gooooo Red, White and Blue! 

Will definitely be throwing things at the TV on Oscar night if the right one doesn't win here.